


Justice For Appearances

by shomarus



Category: Carol (2015), The Price of Salt - Patricia Highsmith
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Eventual Smut, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-03
Updated: 2018-02-22
Packaged: 2019-02-27 20:43:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13256259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shomarus/pseuds/shomarus
Summary: Therese Belivet, a skillful and cunning young woman who's run a successful hitman business for years. She could take out a man with her own pinky if she wanted to, and that's exactly why she's the perfect candidate for killing Carol Aird, the tyrant who makes sure those outside the Wall get their dues.The whole assassination operation was going pretty smoothly.Until the whole falling in love thing, anyway.





	1. Outsider

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a fic that's set in the same universe as one of my original works from 2015, and another fic from 2017. i hadn't thought i would write anything more for it until i played fallout 4 again, so here we are lmao, though that's not really important.  
> i have too many ideas which is why i started working on this one before the model au fic (and don't even get me started on the three other modern aus i have on backburner :/) but hopefully i can stick to my guns this time, lmao. 
> 
> i think therese's role here might be stretching it a little since the whole point of her character in the price of salt is that she's an average person, but it's also fun to play around with power shifts like this, i suppose. also half inspired by a passing comment a friend made, about how rooney mara looks like she could kill a man and tbfh. she absolutely looks like she could and That's The Tea.
> 
> anyways, thanks for reading!! :0c

Most of the jobs were simple, really. Get in, get to stabbing, get out, then dispose the evidence and make sure it happens fast enough that you don’t have to dwell on it. If you asked her, she was pretty good at steps one through four. Therese Belivet really sucked at step five, but that’s just the optional step you take if you don’t want your guilt to eat you alive. Other than that? Smooth sailing, clear fuckin’ skies.

That wasn’t quite the case here.

Every once in a while, Therese gets a real tough job. For a little extra, she could take out your average joe from inside the Wall. Steal a precious heirloom if you bought her dinner too. Beat someone up, but dead’s usually what the clientele wanted. Children and expectant mothers were usually a no-go, but for the right price… Well. Those were the tough jobs.

What Therese didn’t sign up for? Absolute absurdity. Yet there she was anyways, really about to go through with this stupid fucking plan. She was really about to march straight into the Wall, get a job at FutureTech of all places, and kill Carol _fucking_ Aird. The more that she thought about it, the less and less real it seemed.

The Wall was what kept the hoity-toity rich folk nice and safe. They were, coincidentally, what kept those who were less fortunate out, left with nothing but a knife in their hands and a dying glimmer of hope in their eyes. Therese’s glimmer had been snuffed right out when she was eight, with her father on the ground and her mother holding the gun. She’d been taken in by Dannie and Phil’s folk when she was nine, killed her first man at ten, and by the age of eleven? Ran her own hitman business, one that’d thrive all the way into her early twenties. Pretty damn impressive, if you asked her, but well… It was time to pay back the McElroys. In the form of taking out Carol.

… God, what a fucking mess.

Carol Aird was kind of like a cryptid, of sorts. The supposed woman in charge of the world’s leading robotics company… As well as the woman in charge of most of the functional walled-off cities. No one from outside the Wall has ever seen her face, but everyone just _loved_ to blame her for their woes. Now, Therese would be a liar if she said she hadn’t also cursed out her name every once in a while, just because it was easy to shove blame in someone else’s face when life took a giant shit all over your things. But when faced with the possibility of having to talk to Carol and _then_ get a knife in her stomach? Well, she wouldn’t be admitting shit to her.

“I don’t know, of all the people to be the face of the resistance, I feel like… Anointing a fucking _hitman_ as your mascot is kind of redundant? And, well, maybe lends a little bit to the, uh, stereotypes about us.” Therese raised her hands defensively, to shield herself from Dannie’s piercing look. “I mean. Just saying.”

Therese had never been interested in the whole resistance op either. People inside the Wall had their own shit to deal with. Even as someone who killed for a living, her idea of resistance wasn’t _exactly_ committing acts of mass genocide and terror. But the McElroys were in _love_ with that drivel, and as an honorary member of the McElroy family, Therese was shoveled into this as well.

“The stereotypes won’t matter when she’s dead, kid!” Phil leaned over to ruffle her hair, and Therese, annoyed and rightly so, slapped his hand away. “That’s when _we_ start to run the show.”

“Whatever, as long as this doesn’t change anything for my business.”

Dannie flashed a smile at her from where he sat. “It won’t.”

They were currently en-route inside the Wall. Dan had practically won the lottery, finding an inside man who was coincidentally a caravan driver. “God, look at you. All cute, proper-lookin’ and shit in your little Wall getup. You’d blend right in.” Phil crossed his legs, a cynical smile etched on his lips. “Remember your story?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Therese subconsciously went to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. She looked clean and felt cleaner. It was kind of unnatural, really? And she’d be living like this for the better part of a month until she could go in for the kill. Curse Aird and her ridiculously tight vetting system, she supposed. “I’m a recently-graduated student from up in Destiny who’s interested in working for the Airds. The caravan got jumped by a group of raiders along the way so I’m _very_ frazzled and _very_ desperate.” They’d even forged papers for her. This really was a go big or go home situation, one that Therese would do pretty well not to fuck up.

“God, you couldn’t make that sound more boring if you were a fucking textbook.” Phil corkscrewed his hand in the air, smiling all too smugly. “Let’s hope you’re a convincing actress, for all of our sakes.”

The caravan stopped at the peak of the walls. “God, they’re so fucking _white_. It’s kind of unnerving. Like, people paint these, hold them to the standards of a fuckin’... what? God? Probably.” Therese shook her head. “I can guarantee that I’m not gonna get used to this shit. And the moment she’s dead, I’m gonna get fuckin’ _wasted_.”

“You’re going to have to watch that tongue of yours, Terry. Walled-up folk don’t talk like that!” Dannie sniggered at her, and Therese stuck out her tongue. For all the times she’d been inside the Wall, she’d never be able to get used to it. The way the people spoke, the way they dressed. “But sign me the fuck up for alcohol poisoning.”

“I’m going to miss you assholes,” Therese said with a smile. “Alright, can’t keep Death waiting any longer. I’ll see you guys in a week, give you the whole update spiel. Mwah, mwah, all that. Bye.” She climbed out of the steel wagon and waved to the boys before watching the caravan leave. Therese watched, stared into the distance moments after it was out of sight. Well, looks like showtime.

She’d stolen a computer off of one of her other victims, back in her teenage years. She’d fiddled around with it a few times, figured out how to reprogram the name from its previous owners to her own. Therese had never thought that it would become anything of use, not until Phil was cussing up a storm about how _everyone_ from in the Wall had one and that they’d need one for Therese. “You’ve got a map, riiiight… Oh Jesus fucking Christ this place is huge.”

The Aird sector took a bit of walking to get to, but Therese managed to survive and without some uppity cop deciding to thrust a gun up her ass too. The main building stood tall in front of her, a little intimidating. The guard eyed her somewhat suspiciously, which was Therese’s cue to go up and start asking questions. She wondered if people from within the Wall could smell fear, and honestly? Therese wouldn’t be surprised.

“Hi,” she began, a pleasant little smile upon her lips. “This is FutureTech, isn’t it? Excuse my ignorance, I’m from Destiny. I was, uh, told that this was one of the best sites in Anex, and I’ve _always_ been interested in seeing what the Airds are doing to help further the robotics and programming scene, y’know? I’m a, uh, graduated computing student. Oh, but look at me, monologuing on!”

The guard sized her up, and Therese could practically feel the sweatdrop dribbling down her temple. She kept the smile up, hoping she looked a little nervous and overly eager to please. He jerked his head towards the interest. “Yeah, you’re at the right place. Be careful about that eager tone, however. They say Carol isn’t a fan of loudmouths like you.” His tone was pretty venomous, and though Therese would have been more than happy to choke him out in broad daylight, that wouldn’t be the best move to make. So she thanked him and moved on.

Now, if Therese had thought that the survival center that the McElroys hailed from was impressive, it had absolutely nothing on FutureTech’s grandeur. She tried not to gape too much, but the attendant caught her dumb stare and waved her over. “Welcome to FutureTech! I don’t recognize you, and tours are only on Wednesdays. Is there any other way I can assist you?”

“Oh, I was actually looking to um, set up a meeting.” Best to keep that polite little smile on, though truth be told, Therese wanted to _die_ then and there. “The meat of the matter is that I’m looking to apply. I don’t really know who I’d look to in order to help me with that.”

The attendant pouted. “Ah, you’re cute. Makes me feel a little bad that we’re not really hiring right now,” she said, apologetic look spread all over her face. Therese cursed inside of her head. This hadn’t been part of the plan at all, but all that meant was that the whole process would just take a little longer. “I would be more than happy to get your email and let you know when we are hiring again, however.”

“Not necessary,” Therese said, shaking her head regretfully. God knows it’d take anywhere from a half a year to who-knows-when for an opening to appear. No, no. She could figure something else out. “I’ll look elsewhere, but thank you so much!”

“But what if you didn't have to?” The voice that sounded out came from somewhere behind her, and it took Therese a moment to wonder if it had been aimed at her. The sound of heels clicking stopped close to her, and that’s when she turned.

Blonde, tall, and eyes made of fucking _steel_. Therese immediately turned away, even though she knew very well that she shouldn’t have done that. “Oh, Miss Aird.” That’s when her eyes widened. Carol? In the fucking flesh? She had expected some spindly demure-looking woman who was unfuckable. Not the kind of woman who laid in front of her, looking impossibly sexy. Therese repressed a groan of frustration.

“Hello, Genevieve,” Carol greeted with an amused smile. Therese wondered if her amusement was derived from Therese’s sudden mouseish behaviour. “It turns out that Cyr was unreliable. Not to get into specifics, because I’d _hate_ to gossip about the workers here, but she has been… terminated. I’d been hoping to check in with you to find a potential replacement, but it seems as though we’ve already found one.”

“I’m sorry to intrude, but Cyr, you say? Like, Robin? Not to mistrust your judgement or anything of the sort, but this… Well, I’ll be frank; she just doesn’t look like bodyguard material.”

Carol waved her off. “Oh, don’t apologize. The fact you have the audacity to question me in the first place is one of the reasons I’ve kept you for so long. Of course I want you looking for other candidates, but if she’s right here and willing to look for it… You, look up at me. And tell me your name while you’re at it.” Her tone was harsh, and it made Therese jump. She met with Carol’s gaze, and though she wanted to rip it away (because really, if Therese kept looking, she felt as though Carol would have been able to find out everything that she was thinking), she didn’t.

“Therese Belivet,” she managed to choke out, but only barely.

“Therese. A lovely name.” Was that a hint of smug on her lips? If Therese hadn’t been interested in dying before, she was willing to stick her own head on a pike for them. “If you’re willing, I would love to see you here… Say in two days.”

“I… Well, I suppose I can make that work.” Therese was the killer here. Was she really going to be played for a fool like this, all speechless because some pretty girl made her appearances? Well, she supposed it was amplified because said pretty girl was the one she was supposed to have murdered, but still. She was Therese fucking Belivet. The kind of woman who stirred up genuine fear in grown men because if someone called her on you, you had _really_ fucked up.

“Excellent. I’ll have Gen work out all the little stuff with you, and we’ll go from there.” Carol’s voice had that kind of low, grainy quality that made Therese feel weak. God, she was acting so fucking unprofessional. She felt like she hadn’t the _least_ bit of control, and that was something that she felt she was supposed to have at every moment. That was surely the kind of thing that Carol wanted in her workers as well. Aside from the embarrassment eating her from the inside out, this felt almost too good to be true. “I’ll see you then, Miss Belivet.”

“Yeah. See you then. Nice meeting you.”

They stared after the woman moments after her leave. “I know I said you were cute, but you’re not _that_ cute. No offense.”

“Absolutely none taken.”

“It’s just that, like, in all of my years that I’ve worked here, I have _never_ seen Carol look that way at anyone. Aside from perhaps Gerhard, but I don’t see her anymore and I’ve yet to decide if that’s a good thing or not.” Genevieve whistled, hand placed at her hip. “I’ll get your email, let you know what time Carol wants to see you, I suppose.”

Therese nodded somewhat apprehensively. “Of course, of course.” She set up some fake bullshit email with the McElroys a while back, and she tried to fish up the username so she could write it down on the slip of paper that had been passed in front of her. She wondered if the wriggling little voice in the back of her mind had been right and that Carol could figure out everything about her in just a single glance. That she was an outsider looking to assassinate her, basically. “This is all so ridiculous.”

Genevieve snorted, shaking her head. “Oh, don’t you have that right.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'd love to hear your thoughts about this! thank you again for reading!


	2. Pretty Girls

It’s not about the destination. It’s about the journey. Therese would be the first to freely admit that the getting there was incredibly awkward and perhaps a little more than unnerving. One just hears so many stories about Carol, and for all the men Therese has killed, she can’t help but to feel like a fish out of water. But that’s silly and stupid, because in the end, a dictator has absolutely no power over a killer.

“Do you smoke, Therese?” Carol asked, a daresay seductive smile on her lips and a cigarette posed against that devilish smile of hers. She was donning dark red glasses, a red that differed from the coral red of her lips and nails yet Carol was the kind of woman who wore the colour so well that it didn’t matter that she was mismatched. And God, the glasses coupled with that mischievous look… Therese might have still hated everything that Carol stood for, but that didn’t mean that she couldn’t be at least a _little_ interested. “Well, you look young. Perhaps you don’t.”

“I’m not one who rules out first tries,” Therese said with a shrug. “Pass it here.” Truth be told, Therese had been a pretty heavy smoker in her formative years, cigs being a precious commodity and a cheap reward for a cheap job. Turns out that acrid smoke was a dead giveaway for stealth ops, so she’d given it up (with much help and much grief on the part of Dannie). Well, she supposed it didn’t matter much now. Look at her, taking up smoking again just because a pretty girl did too.

“Adventurous, aren’t you?” Carol smirked, but pulled out a cigarette from her golden case. Therese accepted it and gestured vaguely for the lighter, but Carol’s smirk only hiked itself up wider. “Lean in, I’ll light it for you.”

Therese did so, half because she felt fucking delirious and half because she was kind of afraid of what Carol would do should she refuse. This felt like less of a job interview than it did some sort of game to be played, to be solved and stopped before it ended disastrously. Right about now, Therese wasn’t confident in her detective skills. She pulled back the moment her end lit up and smiled gratefully. “Thanks.”

She didn’t know what Carol was trying to get at, really. She’d already been here for twenty minutes, and Carol wasn’t a fan of small talk, so everything had been more or less just awkward silence and Therese trying not to stare. Oh, but Therese wasn’t going to say anything about Carol’s silence. That was basically social suicide, and as it turned out, Therese liked to think that she had a pretty good sense of self-preservation.

“I suppose we should get on with it.” Carol’s eyes narrowed, and Therese cocked her head to the side in turn. “You only speak when you have something to say, don’t you? That’s a good trait to have. An important one as well, but that goes without saying.”

Oh, if only she knew. Therese, outside of the Wall was pretty well-known for her boisterous attitude (only with the help of her longtime-friend, champagne), but it wasn’t as though Therese was going to correct her. In that respect, she guessed there was a hint of truth to Carol’s words.

Carol continued, “Would you mind following me? I’ll have you change into standard uniform. You look to be a medium, I think.” She studied Therese for a moment longer, only to nod, self-assured. Then she spun around and began to walk, leaving Therese to stumble along at the same pace.

“Standard uniform? Forgive me if I’m out of line, but why are you giving it to me now?”

She didn’t even miss a beat. “Because I can. You wouldn’t happen to be questioning me, would you, Miss Belivet?” Is that amusement of anger that tinged the edge of her voice? Therese didn’t know, and she sure as fuck wasn’t about to ask either.

Silence was _probably_ the best way to go about it, and there was still a bit of walking to be done anyways. Carol led her to a light-filled room, walls made of glass. An observatory of sorts, at least from what Therese could gather. A stack of boxes laid towards the entrance and Carol reached in to dig around for the clothing. She pulled out a sleek white jumpsuit with the FutureTech label etched on its sides. Carol shoved the jumpsuit in Therese’s direction. “There’s a changeroom down the corridor if you’d like, but don’t take too long. Come back here when you’re ready; I have some stuff I need to set up.”

Therese, both nervous and a little confused, nodded hurriedly. “Yes, of course.” And with that, she was gone.

A fun and interesting fact about the FutureTech building was that everything and everyone in it was far too clean. Therese was more used to brownish walls, embellished with fallout and shrapnel. Everything here was scrubbed clean, a pure white without a speck of dirt anywhere. Not even the floors. And God, not to mention the people. The workers who were in the building walked straight and proper, almost like machines. To the point where Therese wouldn’t exactly be surprised if they _were_ machines.

Changing into the jumpsuit only took a good few minutes, and Therese was a little astounded at how well it fit her. She turned, observing herself in the mirror, only to stop when she remembered that Carol wouldn’t be particularly pleased if she was dallying. She huffed and bounded back to the observatory, wondering what kind of inane shit Carol would have her pull when she got there.

Only, Carol wasn’t there.

“Miss Aird?” Nope, nothing. Oh jeez, oh wow, what a phenomenal living experience. Exactly what she needed. Therese walked further and further into the dome, feeling unease wash over her. On the outside, she would never put herself into a situation like this. It was basically begging for trouble. But she was under the assumption that everything was fine because Carol said she’d be right back.

She felt the extent of how wrong she was when something hard slammed right into the middle of her back. Therese felt the wind knocked out of her lungs and quickly spun around to look at her assailant. A brown-haired woman with sharp, striking features. That was about a good a look as Therese could get before she was being swung at yet again. Before she realized it, Therese was pinned to the floor, the woman hovering over her with a scarily level expression.

It was only when Scary Mystery Woman very narrowly missed a punch to Therese’s face that she realized that this wasn’t going to end unless she fought back. Lucky for her, Therese was more than a little experienced in hand-to-hand combat—proving her mettle in bar fights happened to be an activity she participated in somewhat frequently. She rolled out from where she’d been pinned and made a quick rise to her feet. With a sickening slapping noise, Therese drove her elbow into whatever exposed part of her assailant she could find. In this instance, her side.

Unfortunately, that didn’t give Therese nearly enough time to get her bearings, and soon enough it was her neck that was being grabbed at. She grunted and tried to kick out the woman’s legs. Therese cringed at the _whump_ of her body hitting the floor. Yet even that didn’t seem to deter her, recovering within mere seconds. It really made Therese wonder why the utter _fuck_ she was being attacked for absolutely no conceivable reason. With such drive as well? It didn’t make any sense. Nevertheless, Therese sucked in a breath and got back into a fighting stance.

“Unit zero-one, stand down.”

With that, the woman stood straight and still. Therese could be tricked into many things, but lowering her guard was one you’d have to work rather hard at to make her do so. Even if that was Carol’s voice over the intercom (could anyone really mistake that honey-like lull for anyone else?).

“I’m unsure whether I should be impressed or sorely disappointed.” The voice no longer came from an intercom, and instead it was Carol in the flesh, walking towards the two of them. Therese couldn’t tell what she meant. “Though I suppose that in the end, it doesn’t really matter. How are you feeling?”

Therese wondered, very briefly, if Carol enjoyed dry-cut humour. _I am both terrified and cautiously aroused, ma’am._ No, it was better not to say it. “Kind of exhilarated? I was, uh, definitely not expecting to be suddenly pummeled by a woman who holds the wrath of ten thousand suns?”

Carol smiled, though Therese couldn’t tell if it was a smile laced with dread or amusement. “Fair enough of a statement to make. Abby’s kind of a tough cookie, aren’t you?” The smile in Abby’s direction was much more genuine, and Therese could hear the play of actual unadulterated happiness in the back of Carol’s voice. Was that a smile on Abby’s face as well? After something like this? Absolutely astounding.

“Okay, cool, can I possibly get an explanation as to what’s going on now?” Therese realized only as she was speaking that she needed to keep jovial appearances. _If I’m going to be subjected to this crazy shit all while I’m trying to hold a lousy fucking job, I will absolutely stab her in broad daylight. It will absolutely happen and I don’t even care if I get in trouble for it later._ “Not to be rude or anything, but I feel like an explanation is in order?”

“I was just about to explain that,” Carol said with the cool contempt that she’d begun the conversation with. As per the fucking course, Therese supposed. “I should begin first and foremost; the position of bodyguard was a fabrication. Oh, don’t get me wrong, the termination was all very real, but the position isn’t open. I was actually looking for trainers, if you will.”

“And you needed me to fight her… why, exactly?” Therese pointed a finger at Abby, who gave that absolutely _stupid_ smile. She was not a fan of smug, and Abby was simply radiating it. If she’d known that she was going to be _this_ annoying, Therese would have tried a little harder to rough her up rather than focus on saving her own hide.

“Because I’m looking for people who are skilled in combat. Whether they’re formally or informally trained doesn’t exactly matter. You have this wild aura about you and I had a hunch. Before you ask why I didn’t tell you anything; it’s better for me if you were unaware of your circumstances. People perform… differently under stressful situations. It’s fascinating.”

Therese hummed an acknowledgment. “So like, say I wasn’t a fighter in the slightest. Would you just let… Abby have at me?”

“I’m not a killer,” Abby protested with a frown. “I know very well when someone’s below my skill level, and I can adjust accordingly. It’s funny that you underestimate me despite the fact I very easily could have beaten you into the ground.”

Welp, the animosity wasn’t exactly a good start. Therese continued, “And the suit?”

“Didn’t I tell you not to ask about that?” Carol smiled. “If you want the real answer, it’s because you look _delicious_ in a jumpsuit.”

She sputtered.

“You’ve done remarkable, however. Far beyond the realm of what I expected from someone like you. Not to offend, of course, but you look so… What’s the word? Delicate, perhaps. Yet you could probably kill a man,” Carol said, looking up and down Therese’s figure. Oh, Christ. Did she know? “We don’t see enough of that from people nowadays. I wonder, where did you learn that sort of behaviour?”

Therese stiffened. Her story, her story, what was her story again? “You, uh. Kind of have to fend for yourself when your caravan gets jumped by a group of raiders. Fight or flight, y’know? And um. I’m not exactly in the business of dying, if you know what I mean?” _Jesus fucking Christ, could Dan and Phil have picked a worse person for the job?_ “Well, I… To be fair, nobody really is.”

“Interesting.” It was kind of weird how Carol had loads of commentary on some of the things Therese said, and next to nothing on others. “Any other questions?”

“Oh, yes. What exactly does this uh, new job of mine consist of?”

Carol frowned. “Odd, I hadn’t thought to explain that to you either. Well, I suppose this will tie in well with my next point. You’ve been wondering why I called Abby a unit over the intercom, haven’t you?”

She nodded with slight apprehension.

“Well, whatever assumptions you had might be right. Abby is, for lack of a better term, a robot. Android, mechoid or whatever you want to call her. Longtime Aird project, recently had some interesting upgrades added to her hardware.” Carol smiled, and that’s when Therese realized it was not just happiness in her smile, but a lowly pride as well. “Abby Gerhard—” Therese recognized the name. Genevieve had mentioned her once, and suddenly she understood, “—originally named Unit 01. A project started by my father, the very first of her kind. Now that she’s approaching something close to free will, there are a few others like her, but they’re only in their baby stages. We haven’t quite decided what to do with them, so we’re trying all different sorts of things, including a combat program. You’re not getting whiplash from all of this, are you?”

“Oh. Uh. No.” Except for the fact that this was a little much to take in, because Therese had never heard of a synthetic human before, and the thought was a little more than simply chilling. “I think I get it.” Only she didn’t, but whatever.

“Your job is essentially to teach them what you know. You don’t need to worry about a teaching program or anything of the sort, there’s a sort of orientation that will go on with the others that I’ve gathered for the combat program. It’ll be very exciting, and I do hope to see you there, Therese.” Carol smiled yet again, though this time, there was no underlying malice within it.

“Ah.” How eloquent she was.

“I’ll send you what time you need to be here soon enough. And before I forget,” Carol said, pulling out a plastic white card from her dress pocket, “Your clearance card. Use it to get around the building, it should get you to where you need to go, and keep you out of the places you don’t need to be.” The card was tossed towards Therese and she caught it with fumbling fingers.

Therese studied the card. Pure white plastic, aside from her name painted perfectly into the side. “Thanks.”

Carol paused for the shortest of moments. “There’s some, ah, special permissions in your card. The full extent of which will be explained to you when I get around to it. It’s not important now, but I figure I should let you know, lest you skim over anything.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” What a dangerous game that was being played. Therese looked up at both Carol and Abby, giving her own (somewhat nervous, for how could she not be) smile. “If that’s all, I should be off.” Well, she supposed, if Carol was going to play like this, then Therese could come up with her own game to play as well. To play into Carol’s hands but string her along while they were at it. In that respect, they both had something exciting to look forward to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> why r action scenes so hard to write for lmfao
> 
> i did do.... a lil bit of drawing for the fic (opening in a new tab should bring up the full size).  
> 
> 
> i have a lot of fun drawin these girls, can u tell? anyways, thank you so much for reading!!


	3. Room 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whoops, didn't update for a month! january was kind of a busy month for me, busier than what i expected, so hopefully i'll have more time to do more regular updates now, lmao.
> 
> thank you for reading, as always! and for putting up with my inconsistent ass, lol.

One of Therese’s earlier, more fond memories is when she killed her first victim.

He hadn’t been one of the targets that the McElroys had set her up with. Therese remembered him as a stocky, short little man. The kind of disgusting sleazeball with a face that only a mother could love, the kind of person who was generally typecast as a villain in the old pre-collapse movies.

In a way, his appearance matched his personality to a tee. A slimy little creep who’d gotten handsy, who’d gotten greedy, and when Therese was finished with him, gotten killed. It hadn’t been as disturbing as she thought it would be; ten years old and fairly comfortable with the knife in her hands wasn’t exactly what she had seen for herself. Probably wasn’t the kind of future that her father had seen in her, but now twenty years old and feeling at least comfortable with herself, she’s come to terms with it. Was it freeing to get her hands bloody? Arguably. It felt good when Therese’d done it, felt a little less good when she watched his son’s face when the creep had been dragged out of there.

 _He_ had deserved it. His son hadn’t.

It’s one of those weird things that Therese recalls every now and then, just a bit of supplementary information about herself that meant nothing and would never mean anything. Something to reflect on in her more quiet moments, to think.

Murder is one of those things that happened so often, nobody had the time to reflect on the morality of it. People got killed out here all the time—territory disputes, revenge killing, all of it. Shitty fuckin’ world it is out there, with not only this but the ever-looming presence of FutureTech.

Who Therese was now working for.

FutureTech might not be such a bad company if they kept to themselves, Therese figured. Maybe she could even get with their whole “betterment of humanity” drivel that they kept trying to sell to residents of the Wall. But of course, while Therese was idealistic, she was not stupid. Stupidity was what got people killed—and she’d lived up to now. No, even though Therese has never had to interact with any of them, the field agents wore the same logo that showed on her jumpsuit. Everywhere these field agents went, the coincidental disappearance of a few people were just expected.

It wasn’t just that, because if it was then Therese was positive she wouldn’t be in this position in the first place. Everyone knew what happened to Immunity, one of the outsider-populated cities. The namesake meant nothing when some FT punks tried to take the damn place over. Therese had been camping out there on the middle of a contract; sure, she made jokes about it when it was all said and done, but people died. That’s not the sort of thing that Therese felt she could just shake off, and sure enough, when Therese had returned a week later to see the ashes, found there was nothing but the grim promise of a FutureTech building to be erected.

In hindsight, she should have told someone else, tip off the Resistance, let _them_ deal with this shit. Therese hadn’t the heart. _That’s_ where the whole FutureTech is bad rhetoric truly came from, though she knew not everyone was so eager to believe that there was a genuine issue. Still, Therese was nervous.

Speaking of nerves, orientation was today and Therese had not a shit damn clue about where she was supposed to go.

Therese vaguely recalled something Dannie had told her, perhaps as a joke. If she ever felt nervous, attempting to channel the anxiety into excitement apparently worked wonders. As it turned out, Dannie was full of shit (but in all fairness, if your last name was McElroy, you were probably full of shit regardless) and whatever kind of emotion that Therese tried to conjure up vanished in an instant.

Looks like she’d have to deal with her anxiety like the rest of the population. Curses.

She hadn’t taken the time to explore the building before orientation, which she supposed was something Therese should have taken the time to do. After all, if she had the access to the resources, why didn’t she just do that? Truthfully, the underlying reason was that Carol scared the shit out of her (for reasons totally unrelated to the fact that she was hot, Therese would assure you.)

No, it was more like someone who saw people on the outside as things that could be mowed over for no reason was someone who would have no problem doing away with Therese. It was uncharacteristic of her to think that far. Take out some crime bosses and feel nothing, but offered a chance to take out the woman on top and Therese began quaking in her boots? C’est la vie, but a really fucking irrational one all the same.

“You look lost,” a voice spoke from behind her, and though Therese was far beyond jumping when startled (the antics of the McElroys had slowly coaxed that out of her), she could feel the way her heart rose into her throat like the drop of a pin. She turned—slowly, and stared. A somewhat lanky man stood in front of her, with large spectacles that didn’t seem to fit quite right on his face.

“I might be,” Therese said sheepishly in response. The man stared at her expectantly, and Therese fumbled with her words before settling on, “Orientation today, for the uh, combat program. I think, anyway.”

He nodded, his face splitting into a smile that seemed genuine enough. “Ah, I see. I can point you in the right direction, if you feel like it,” he spoke kindly, extending his hand out to Therese as he did. Tentatively, she took it and was pulled into a firm handshake. “Tommy Tucker, from the Biotics Division.”

Therese allowed herself a small smile, returning the shake with a familiar sense of uncertainty. “Therese Belivet, absolutely no clue where I am or where I’m going.”

“That’s what I’m here for, isn’t it?” He flashed a wink at her and then turned. They didn’t say much as they began to walk, Therese in tow and trying desperately to memorize the patterns of _left, right, left, right_ that came when navigating the halls.

Eventually, he tapped the frame of a room and pointed to the plating above it—Room 21. Tommy gave his signature fox-like grin, “Here it is. Director’s waiting inside, from the looks of it.”

Instead of questioning him, Therese decided that she would much rather explore for herself than spend another ounce of time with this man. “Thanks. I’ll see you around, then.”

“Something tells me we’ll be seeing a lot of each other.” Oh, _good_. “Until next time!”

Therese stood in the hallway for a scant two seconds even after Tommy bounded away in the opposite direction. Perhaps she was being overly critical of a man who was just trying to help, but Therese knew better than to let her guard down around here. Not as though she’d been planning to get too comfortable with FutureTech anyways. She’d get close to Aird and then be done with it soon. Just needed to get a little more information on the place so Phil and his cronies could start taking over the moment the witch was dead.

The door slid open and Therese stepped in. The room was cramped, painted the same eye-searing white as the rest of the building. A few chairs were scattered around the middle, laid out somewhat orderly. At the front sat Carol with the same cryptic smile that she always wore. Therese involuntarily gulped.

“You’re early,” Carol remarked with a tinge of amusement. “Remarkably early, actually. If you’d wanted a one-on-one with me, then you could have simply asked, Miss Belivet.”

Therese at least had the tact to look amused. The alternative was looking flushed and coincidentally like an idiot, so she’d pass. “Oh, no. I figured I’d be lost longer than I actually was.” She gave an impassive shrug. Best to switch up the tone of the conversation before Carol was given another chance to humiliate her. “I didn’t know that you were the one holding orientation.” The way the McElroys spoke of her, Therese would have thought that Carol was some kind of witch who liked to preen in the relative comfort of her tower, laughing down at the peasants below—both FutureTech and outsider.

“I like making sure that my workers know just what it is they’re doing. I find that a direct approach seems to work better. Now, whether it’s intimidation or they just _really_ want to impress me, I don’t know.” Carol leaned back and pointed to one of the front seats. “Speaking of, you’re looking a little intimidated yourself, my dear. Something the matter?”

Cautiously, Therese took the seat. God, for someone who’d been hired to do this, she knew full well that the way she was acting was both unprofessional and laughable. Therese knew very well that she could take Carol in a fight, maybe even get the deed done in this room right now (if only it was the right time).

She wondered, briefly, if she could get the job passed on to someone else. Surely, Therese would survive without the promise of reward. Living without it had been easy as pie. But she also knew that the only reason this plan existed in the first place was because of Therese’s proficiency in her work. “No,” she said finally. “I think it’s just general anxiety.”

“That can be worked out,” Carol spoke sympathetically, though Therese wondered if there was really any genuine sympathy behind her words. Carol as a person didn’t seem genuine, but perhaps that was her own bias. “Of all the newest additions to our team, you’re the one I’m most interested in. Perhaps it’s wrong of me to discuss this openly with you, but I was able to get some background information on everyone else. For you? I’ve drawn a complete blank; nothing anywhere. It’s interesting, don’t you think?”

Her mouth went dry.

That _had_ to be a subtle threat. Shit, shouldn’t have someone else thought of that? Actually, Therese was pretty sure that Dannie was the one who was supposed to be taking care of electronic files, wasn’t he? “I—”

Carol laughed, “It’s that look you get, like a fish out of water. Thrust in a place you suddenly don’t belong in, like you’re so used to flying throughout space and in a blink of an eye you’re crashed out on Earth and your wings don’t work. That’s interesting to me.” Though Therese tried to relax, she felt the violent beating of her heart through her chest. “No, that’s just my complex way of asking you to tell me about yourself, Therese.”

Oh my God. Oh my God, okay, so Carol was just a fucking sociopath who liked fucking with her.

“Not that there’s much to say,” Therese began, though she realized the moment that the words came out of her mouth that it was both a boring and incorrect answer. She attempted to recover, “Although to be fair, that’s only because everything that makes me the person who I am is small. Stupid conversational topics that are only good for classroom icebreakers. Truly, what is there to say? I’m not from here, this isn’t my area of expertise, and I admire you a great deal. But that’s all the boring stuff, things I’m sure you already know.”

The smile lingered. Carol wore the same shade of red that she always wore; a peculiar sort of matte coral lipstick, one that matched her nails. Therese forced her gaze to level with Carol’s. “God, I really do have to spell everything out for you, don’t I?” Her head shook. “Tell you what,” she began, though the _vsssh_ of the automatic door sliding open interrupted her words.

“Director?” the newcomer called, and it finally clicked that Carol was Director. Shit. _Duh_.

“You’re in the right place! Take a seat.” And there was the sincerity that was mysteriously missing whenever Therese was a part of the conversation. Or maybe she was imagining things. Carol’s attention focused back to Therese. “After orientation, are you free to stay here? I think it’s time to show you those secret benefits on your card.”

Therese was in no position to say no. That was probably the scariest part of the whole thing. So she nodded, wary. “I don’t say I have anything else going on, so… Yes, of course.”


	4. Observationalist

Aside from the uncomfortable one or two seconds that came with Carol’s eyes landing directly on Therese, orientation went well enough.

The long and short of it was that Therese got to sit there and punch robots all day. _And_ she got paid to do it. Lucky her! (Although considering how little money actually meant to her in the Wall, there was no real benefit, but she could at least pretend to be excited.)

On the longer side of things, Carol had made specific mention to the fact that Therese would be working with Unit 01. Everyone else got another android. Though there was no obvious benefit, the way that the eyes of the other recruits bore into her, Therese wondered _why_ Carol showed such obvious preference. Was it because all of this delicate wordplay was a farce, that Carol believed Therese to be weak and would crack under the weight of isolation and exclusion? Or was it simple obliviousness? One answer was cruel, the other answer was simply boring, it didn’t fit Carol’s narrative.

And here Therese was, written into Carol’s narrative, forced into a one-on-one session. No, she was not particularly pleased about it.

“Come,” Carol said with a quick gesture. Therese, arguably in no position to refuse, simply got up and followed.

“You’re to use your card to allow yourself access to the Director’s Headquarters as I call you up here,” she explained with a vague gesture to the card slot and the bulky metal door attached to it. “I figure it will be easier for you to come up here at your leisure than it is for me to come to you. We’ll be seeing a lot more of each other from this point forward, I hope you realize.”

Therese at the very least has the good sense not to ask if she’s the only one who had the privilege.

The Director’s Headquarters weren’t white-walled and utterly pristine as Therese had expected. A very cool mint with some furniture strewn about. A desk in the front, because of course, Carol had to keep some semblance of professionalism in what was essentially a glorified hotel room. Therese would say nothing about the papers that littered the dressers, the floors. In fact, one may even think that an actual human being may have lived in here— _holy shit!_

“So you wanted me,” Therese began, perhaps with the slightest edge of unease. “And here I am.”

“Of course.” The door slid close. “Why don’t we start from the top? Like one of those party games, or whatever. I’ll ask you some questions, you’ll ask me some in turn.”

Therese gave an impartial shrug. As though she could say no. “I hope you’re prepared to be disappointed. Not to offend, of course, but you just so happened to have stumbled across perhaps one of the most boring people across the entire stretch of the country.”

“Now, aren’t you underselling yourself?” Carol smiled (and Therese began to wonder just how genuine she was—certainly, as genuine as one Carol Aird could be). “Why don’t you take a seat? I’m curious to get to know you.”

Therese bit her lip but sat anyway. She could be truthful about all the personal stuff because by the end of this whole ordeal it wouldn’t particularly matter. And sure, being the center of Carol’s attention might make her job a little easier (hell, she could think of about tens of different ways to end Carol here and now) but it also made her job a little harder. Inevitably, she would become the center of everyone else’s attention.

“So,” Therese started with a small tilt of her head, “What did you want to know?”

“I think I already have the basics down,” Carol spoke, taking a seat in her own desk. How imposing she looked. “What do you like?”

“That’s a broad question,” she laughed, though not much. A small, uncomfortable cough later and Therese was straight-faced once more. She could say the obvious, lie to Carol and say what a Director should want to hear. That the work they’ve done is excellent and how everyone adored them. Therese wouldn’t. Couldn’t really bring herself to.

Carol rested her chin on her propped hands. “What comes to mind? Don’t think about it.”

Well, if she was going to tell her not to think about it, then of course Therese would overthink the whole ordeal. What was Carol’s angle here?

“Observation,” Therese blurted. “Well—a love-hate thing, I guess. I think it’s just… interesting, depending on the subject. Because of the way the world is, nobody has the time to wonder about where it is things come from, how the Earth spins. It’s always some dispute or orderliness above all else. And there’s a lot to pick out, nuances in the human expression too. But it’s kind of—I understand I’m rambling here, but it’s…”

“An invasion of privacy?” Carol offered.

She shrugged. “Something or other… I guess.”

Then comes that catlike grin. “I wonder if you can figure out what it is I’m thinking now?”

“Oh.” Therese was beginning to blank. “Well…”

“You don’t seem interested in personal glory,” Carol interrupted. “You’re a _strangely_ good fighter with no prior training and you like to observe? There’s a reason you’re in my quarters right now, and it’s not just because you’re cute.”

God, Therese must look like a total blithering idiot. Who the fuck loses their composure when their _enemy_ works up the nerve to compliment them?

“Abby’s combative instincts are already well-calibrated—that’s why I had you paired off with her, you see—I just wanted to have you on the side. You’re valuable, though I’m sure you wouldn’t know it.” With a sudden movement, Carol splayed her fingers across her desk. A holographic map lit up the room. “My previous set of eyes seem to have gone… _defective_ , for lack of a better term. Though recovery and termination are on the list, a replacement is my first priority.”

“So you’re going to throw me out to the wastes?”

This sounded almost too good to be true. Therese had been kind of worried about setting up weekly reports to the McElroys, but if Carol was just straight-up handing her the job…

“... With Abby by your side, of course.”

Ah, yep, there it was. Having Unit 01 with her would make things _significantly_ harder, especially considering the whole… Well, Therese was fairly sure that Abby despised her for whatever reason, though she wouldn’t say diddly squat to anyone about it.

“And what would you have us look out for?”

“Wasteland developments. Perhaps scout the area around Outsider settlements, maybe pose as them for a day or two to see how their societies tick. Finding other suitable areas to set up branches… Some little odd jobs that I may send your way. I’d have to fit you with microphones to record data… Though I doubt Outsider tech could really intercept anything like that…” Now Carol was lost in her own thoughts.

… And Therese was _absolutely_ losing hers.

Microphones, of all things? Assuming Carol was the type of psychopath who’d have her ‘scout the area’ before week’s end, then Therese would have no way to warn anyone who knew her to shut the fuck up. And if word got to Carol…

This opportunity would be lost.

Perhaps it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. Oh, nah, just lost the biggest opportunity of Therese’s insignificant life while probably simultaneously making things worse for the people who already live outside of the Wall. No biggie.

“Well, I’ve uh, always been one to roll with the punches, as they say…” Therese would certainly have to here.

“Ah. Of course,” Carol began, “You’re free to refuse. You say no and we’ll simply go back to combat training. But it’ll make _me_ very sad. And I think it’d be very bad for the both of us if you made me sad.”

“That’s—” _not giving me much of a choice at all_. Therese, once again, had the sensibility to keep her mouth closed. “No, you’re right. Last thing I’d ever want to do is disrespect you, uh… Miss Aird.”

“Carol, darling. Remember.”

“Carol,” Therese repeated. “Sorry.”

She smiled. Wicked, absolutely wicked. “Good. You can inform Abigail of this yourself. She’s likely in the android dormitories.”

“Not to question your neverending intellect, of course,” Man, Therese could do without the inadvertent sass, “but is there a reason as to why… _you_ can’t tell her?”

Carol shrugged. “I think you should get to know your new scout buddy. You should tell her now, don't you think?” It was kind of funny how she could go from generally mysterious and sly to sinister in a matter of moments. Therese looked away, back to the various photos and papers that laid about. Carol continued. “Farewell, Miss Belivet.”

What choice did Therese have but to nod her head and leave?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whoops i was going to include the section where therese starts (with all due reluctance) talking to abby but then. the chapter started getting extremely long and i've already left this story for a month so uhhhh [STATIC NOISE]
> 
> the next chapter likely won't involve carol directly but like everyone and their mother talks about her at least once. i'm looking forward to writing abby again hfhdhkh
> 
> anyway, thank you for reading as always!! :')


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